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counterpoint and juxtaposition a sful contrasting of different strands of plot and the creation of an atmosphere full of illusion der and strangeness all of which facilitate the many transitions occurring during the course of the play Some facts about its origin and title may help us better to understand the particular nature of the play A Midsummer Nights Dream is clearly related to the practices of midsummer night the night before June which was the date of St John the Baptists festival and hence connected with merrymaking various superstitions and folk customs dances pageants and revels More than any other night in the year midsummer night suggested enchantment and witchcraft something which Shakespeare has superbly embodied in his fairy world To an Elizabethan audience moreover the plays title would have immediately called to mind the socalled midsummer madness

which was a state of mind marked by a heightened readiness to believe in the delusions of the imagination that were thought to befall the minds of men after days of great summer heat Thus by means of his highly suggestive title Shakespeare has firmly planted the dreamlike action of his drama in the popular beliefs and customs of his time Furthermore the title gives theatergoers and readers a clue as to how the work should be understoodnamely as an unrealistic creation of the imagination a series of dream images containing all the contradictions and that dreams normally possess but containing too their symbolic content Indeed the dreamlike character of what takes place is repeatedly alluded to In short the plays title makes significant allusion to the nature and meaning of the work though it makes no reference to the period of time during which the events of the drama occur In fact the action takes place between April and May the latter date being that of May Day demanding of course particular celebrations and for that reason it is perhaps a suitable day for the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta Now the wedding of the princely pair